The Albanese Government will enshrine world leading mandatory Artificial Intelligence safety and security protections in Australian AI Standards legislation.
Australia has the chance to secure and shape the generational opportunities of AI – in Australia’s national interest – while keeping Australians safe.
We want AI investors to come to Australia but first and foremost we want to keep Australians safe. That is why we are choosing to announce our approach to safety first and before a range of major international talks that will cover AI development and investment.
Safety and security are the foundation for building trust in frontier AI. Frontier AI is the term used for the most sophisticated models at the cutting edge of current technological capability. Frontier AI offers huge opportunities but also come with the highest risks to the community if they are not used safely. That is why we are acting now.
Australia has a world leading reputation for setting standards on digital safety. Our approach to AI continues to keep Australian values at the forefront.
AI offers Australia huge opportunities whether it’s boosting productivity, building economic resilience or revolutionising healthcare.
To seize these opportunities, we need to ensure social licence for AI, safety for Australians and security for our national interest.
We are announcing today that as part of the Albanese Government’s AI in Australia’s Interests agenda, strong mandatory safety and security protections will be legislated through the AI Standards and apply to all frontier AI companies that wish to operate in Australia.
The Government will propose these protections be enforced by a new targeted regulator for AI safety, which will work with the Australian AI Safety Institute to provide technical expertise and oversight as global standards evolve.
The regulator would be able to enforce significant penalties for AI companies that fail to comply with mandatory obligations that will help keep Australia safe.
Companies will be required by the regulator to:
- Maintain security controls across all stages of development and deployment
- Identify and manage serious risks associated with their models
- Allow independent evaluation of their models
- Provide mandatory notification of incidents to the Australian Government rapidly
- Maintain and publish safety and security frameworks to ensure good governance, risk management and transparency
- Respond to updated standards and rules as technologies change.
These protections are aligned with interim report recommendations from the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
These measures will help provide earlier warning of emerging risks from rogue AI agents and enable faster, coordinated action when serious AI incidents occur.
